Five Lessons Fallout 4 Can Learn From Skyrim

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How a fantasy world can help improve Bethesda's next foray into its nuclear wasteland RPG.

By Colin Moriarty

Chances are Bethesda Game Studios' next project will be Fallout 4, its much-anticipated follow-up to 2008's smash-hit (and IGN Game of the Year) Fallout 3. Unlike the quasi-medieval fantasy Skyrim, Fallout is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But there are many similarities between the two franchises.

Fallout and Skyrim are both open-world, sandbox RPG games with an identifiable Bethesda style. They both place an emphasis on non-linearity and on crafting the exact character that caters best to any player's preferences. And they're both immensely meaty adventures that require scores and scores of hours to see and do everything.

What can Skyrim teach Bethesda moving forward?

The company constantly iterates and learns from the mistakes of previous games, coming out stronger with each new effort. After all, while Fallout 3 is one of the great games of this generation, Skyrim looks, feels and runs a whole lot better. Progress is written into Bethesda's DNA.

With Bethesda undoubtedly preparing to look ahead towards its next project, what lessons can the studio take directly from Skyrim? Here are five things Skyrim did well, lessons that Bethesda should consider as it crafts Fallout 4.

Alter the Morality System

Fallout 3 is one of those games that keeps you firmly tethered to the choices you've made. And there's certainly a place for that, especially in those titles that place a distinct emphasis on exploration and non-linearity. The thing is, when you compare Fallout 3 to Skyrim, you realize that Skyrim's lack of a cohesive morality system gives you more options while removing the need to play a certain way just to keep up the guise of consistency.

Fallout 4 shouldn't be held back by a static morality system.

Skyrim makes you pay for doing the wrong thing by putting bounties out for you if you get caught wantonly stealing or murdering. But you're never locked out of parts of the game just because you went on an ill-fated killing spree or stole some potions when a shopkeeper has his back turned. It's not to say that a morality system shouldn't be in Fallout 4, but rather that it should be grayer, more nebulous, and a little more open-ended. Heck, Bethesda doesn't even have to look to its own work with Skyrim for help on that. Obsidian took the gray morality route with New Vegas, and it worked out wonderfully.

Organic Leveling and Skill Progression

RPG veterans are all too familiar with the typical conventions of leveling. In many JRPGs, for instance, you earn experience in battle and level-up automatically, with all of your statistics taking some sort of boost regardless of how useful they happen to be to the character in question. A game like Bethesda's Fallout 3 stepped things up for the gamer by giving them a high degree of customization, continuing an established trend for the series with an existing formula. Leveling had its own perks, of course, but players could associate skill points to build up any statistic they wanted whether or not it was actually being used.

Skyrim's leveling system allows you to better embody your character.

This system works fine, and in its own way it's quite rewarding. The thing is, Skyrim's leveling methodology is something Bethesda should take a close look at when it develops Fallout 4. Skyrim's leveling is, at its core, rather basic. You can only upgrade one of three statistics when you level-up. But then, things get much more complicated as you associate a very finite amount of skill points to impressive skill trees that require you to choose your course carefully. You simply cannot master everything in the game. Better yet, individual skills level up as you use them, not the other way around, which feels more organic and allows you to better embody the character you're playing as.